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Info Details
Country Ecuador   
Type Dark   (77%)
Strain Hybrid   (possible Nacional heritage)
Source Ecuador   (Los Rios)
Flavor Spices & Herbs   
Style Old School      (Rustic too)
lo
med
hi
CQ
Sweetness
Acidity
Bitterness
Roast
Intensity
Complexity
Structure
Length
Impact
Still riding training wheels.
Appearance   3.7 / 5
Color: gangster brown
Surface: welts, air pockets, grease splatter; could've been shaken out better
Temper: uneven; typical semi-flat front for a Los Rios (any polish here provided by plastic wrapper transfer); fully flat on its back
Snap: crumbling edge goes along w/ slumming low-pitch (suspect conching)
Aroma   9.4 / 10
classic; monumental intoxicants flare up the nostrils: warm roast - coffee + cereal grains... tremendous floral-spice print... orange blossom / hibiscus & cinnamon (almost to a level of candy Red Hots), add fennel; thick tar 'n cocoa + nutpack on the underside... orange concentrate on the rubdown; reminiscent of Coppeneur's sativa wonderland in Iara Dunkle
Mouthfeel   11.3 / 15
Texture: dry / powdery
Melt: viscous thin & sinuous
Flavor   42.4 / 50
blows up cinna-blossom (orange & lavender - stunning but all too fleeting) -> great chocolate bang (dry powder taste matching texture) -> that tarred aromatic shows up as molasses -> Asian spices run rampant -> starts breaking down... chalk / minerals / limestone baseboard the choke point, tolerable but obscures clarity -> gentian root a joy killer -> minor mint -> densely dark chocolate devolves toward carob + chicory root leading to coffee upsurge (a backcross of sorts to earlier molasses); cedar / juniper / eucalyptus in the aft-length
Quality   15.2 / 20
Crib chocolate; undeveloped in & around the edges. Every aspect sub-optimal: a) short fermentation (even for quasi-Nacional type which generally requires a quicker cycle); b) insufficient conche (evidenced in the texture & more so in underlying flavors) compounded by handling issues, particularly storage &/or drying (resulting in the relative deterioration at mid-palate where flavors struggle to harmonize). Heavy all the way around.

  

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